Kevin

As from my experiences with growing orchids and talking to others who grow and breed orchids, any seed-grown orchid can, potentially, be given it's own clonal name. The term 'variety' is used in taxonomy to refer to a variety of a species. If we are talking species here, then here are some examples, using the genus Cattleya: Cattleya acklandiae var. coerulea, Cattleya bicolor var. brazilensis, Cattleya intermedia var. aquinii, Cattleya labiata var. semi-alba and Cattleya skinneri var. alba. There are others, but this is just for reference. If you take any individual plant of any of these species or varieties of the species, that plant can be given a clonal name. The word 'clone' can be confusing, as it implies an actual clone, but the word is used to identify an individual plant. If a plant is cloned, then all of those are called mericlones. You can't clone an entire species or a hybrid grex - only an individual plant. For Den. Anucha Flare, the original plant could be given a clonal name, and any division of that plant would have the same clonal name. If you then mericlone that plant, all of the resulting plants would have the same clonal name. Does that make more sense?

In your examples Blc. Goldenzelle 'Lemon Chiffon', 'Lemon Chiffon' is a clonal name for this grex. Whenever an orchid gets an award, it is given a clonal name, but anyone can give their own plants clonal names if they want. It is a way is distinguishing plants a from plant b.

I have been growing and studying orchids for over 15 years now. I grow, or have grown, as many types as I can find. What about you?